Tuning a Cisco WLC for a High-Density Environment

For a while now I’ve been working on a quick-start style guide to getting a Cisco WLC from its factory default state to one that would work reasonably well in a high-density deployment.

This guide initially started life as an internal document for one of my clients for their engineers to use as a check list when beginning to build a network for events.

Typically our gear ships out to an event with a standard config based more or less on the values outlined in this guide, however if you were in a position of needing to build a config from scratch or bring an older controller up to date having a quick check list to run through is something I have found to be very handy when working in the field.

This guide typically gets revised every few months as changes to client behaviour appear and major versions of code are released for the WLCs – we are typically early adopters of the newer features and often push the kit very hard so find quite quickly what works for us and what doesn’t!

I’d welcome any feedback on this document and if anybody has something to add / changes to suggest / areas that would be good to cover etc. I’m all for it – we are forever learning new ways to get the best results in the strange environment that we work in and I enjoy being able to share the lessons we have learned with the wider community of wireless professionals out there.